


Mint Chip Queen

by andachippedcup



Series: andachippedcup's Olicity Summer Sizzle Fics [8]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Baby Names, Cravings, F/M, Mia gets a codeword while still in the womb, Oliver is a nervous first time dad, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-27 22:22:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20415265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andachippedcup/pseuds/andachippedcup
Summary: Oliver is obsessively worrying over details of Felicity giving birth to Mia. But Felicity's only concern seems to be in determining what their code word should be to indicate that it's 'go time'.[Olicity Summer Sizzle - Ice Cream Prompt]





	Mint Chip Queen

They had discussed a number of different possible scenarios for when Felicity went into labor with Mia. They’d gone round and round with a diverse number of possible birthing protocols. Oliver had never known there were so many _ options _ when having a baby; foolishly he’d thought you just… _ had it _ and figured the rest out later. As it turned out? It was a hell of a lot more complicated than that.

Cue reading all the expectant parent books he could get his hands on.

Home birth or hospital birth? Natural or C-Section? Apparently, ‘water birth’ was even an option. He wasn’t particularly interested in learning more about what all _ that _ entailed unless his wife was giving birth to a fish. And thanks to the extremely detailed ultrasound that had shown him his daughter’s face before she was even out of the womb, Oliver knew that was not the case. 

So water birth was out. But that still left a host of other questions and concerns.

Would they have a music playlist? Did they want the lights bright or dimmed? Did they want to film it or no? Did Felicity want to spend the early stages standing or lying down? Walking or in the shower? Did she want an epidural or would she rather acupuncture? Acupressure? 

The list went on and on. And with it, Oliver felt his mind spiraling into a thousand ‘what ifs’ and worst case scenarios. How was he supposed to prepare properly when there were so many things that could go wrong? How was he supposed to be a supportive partner when he was so limited in what he could actually _ do _to help? Sure, he could prepare her as best he could, he could be there, hold her hand, coach her through, offer all the love and support that he had to give, but at the end of the day, Felicity would have to do all the heavy lifting. 

_ Was this how Felicity felt anytime he was in the field? _If so, Oliver was fast developing a newfound appreciation for the depth of his wife’s reservoir of strength. 

Oliver wasn’t sure what his opinion was supposed to be on many of the things being asked of them when they were instructed to devise a birth plan. And in truth, he wasn’t sure how much of the plan he _ should _have a say in - really, he was fully supportive of whatever Felicity wanted. His wife was birthing a whole tiny little human. If she wanted it, she had damn well better get it. 

But while Oliver was getting caught up in the particulars of the birthing plan (did they have a preference on who cut the umbilical cord, or when?), Felicity was getting caught up in one very minor component of it all.

“Oliver, we have to talk about what our ‘go word’ will be for when it’s time.” Felicity was relaxing in a chair in the living room, watching as Oliver worked on making dinner in the kitchen. At her words, however, he set down the kitchen knife in his hands. 

“I didn’t realize we needed a ‘go word’...” 

“Of course we need a go word!” Felicity crowed incredulously, her jaw agape as she stared at him.

“But… couldn’t you just say ‘it’s time!’ like they do in the movies?” 

“Then everyone would know!” 

Oliver stopped stuffing the red peppers he’d been preparing and looked around the otherwise empty cabin, gesturing with the knife in his hands. 

“Felicity… There’s no one here. No one’s going to know except for you and me and then eventually the midwife,” he reasoned, but Felicity would not be dissuaded. 

“We need a codeword. Something better than ‘it’s time’ or ‘it’s go time’. Those are stupid.”

“What about ‘Mia’s coming!’?” 

“That’s basically the same thing as saying ‘the baby’s coming’ which is generic and boring and not fun,” Felicity pouted, shaking her head at him. Silence lapsed between them as Oliver continued contemplating the merits and pitfalls of pain management (to epidural or not to epidural?). Felicity, meanwhile, was still hard pressed to let go of the ‘go word’ conundrum. 

“What about ‘The Arrow is Leaving the Bow’?” 

“I thought you said a ‘go word’, not a ‘go sentence’,” Oliver pointed out and Felicity frowned.

“You’re right. It’s too wordy.” 

“And a little on the nose, what with us supposedly being in hiding and all,” Oliver reminded her teasingly. He shook his head and tried to redirect the conversation back to more productive waters. “Felicity, what are your thoughts about C-Sections? If you have to have one, would you want to be conscious or not?” He had resumed running through the list of questions which he felt so incapable of answering. Once more, Oliver Queen was out of his element. Her answer to his question, however, only served to throw him even further for a loop, it being so unexpected and all. 

“Mint chip.” 

Pausing in the middle of seasoning the tray of stuffed peppers, Oliver looked at her with raised brows, unable to help the quirk of a smile on his lips.

“Really, before dinner? You’re going to ruin your appetite.”

“It is adorable that you think anything could ruin my appetite at this stage. I am a beached whale. A caloric black hole. Nothing can touch my appetite.”

“These will be finished really soon,” Oliver remarked, trying his best to make dinner seem more appealing than the nutritionally empty carton of mint chip ice cream that she was clamoring for. He knew though, without even looking at her, that it was a fight he was bound to lose. He’d lost it every time he’d attempted but he couldn’t help trying to feed Felicity nutritious greens before surrendering to the sugary wasteland of her real love - the mint chip ice cream that had become such a fixture for her. 

“Mint chip,” Felicity repeated, putting her two hands out before her in a pleading gesture. Chuckling, Oliver set aside the dinner he’d been preparing and instead, strolled over to the freezer for a container of Mint Chip - Felicity’s favorite, and more so lately since her pregnancy cravings had started intensifying. 

Thus the stockpile of five pints of it nestled safely within the freezer, awaiting her ‘all hours of the day and night’ cravings. After he’d had to find a store open at one in the morning to buy her a pint when her cravings had struck in the wee hours, Oliver had made a point of stocking up on the stuff.

One never knew when one’s wife was going to turn into a craving fueled, hormone charged monster. And now that they lived in the cabin and not the big city? Twenty four hour stores weren’t exactly on every corner. Suffice it to say, one sleepless night had been ample education for Oliver in the merits of keeping Felicity’s cravings well supplied. 

He opened the container and dutifully plucked a spoon out of the utensil drawer before bringing the container and spoon alike to Felicity. As he handed the two to her though, she grabbed his hand to stop him from leaving.

“Watch this.” 

Her voice was a low murmur as she reclined ever so slightly back in her chair and, with the utmost of care, balanced the open container of mint chip ice cream on her very pregnant stomach.

“Do you see the level of talent you’re married to?” Felicity teased lightheartedly and Oliver could only chuckle and shake his head.

“You’re remarkable, I’ll give you that.” 

“I am a Mint Chip _ Queen_.” Felicity gave a soft huff of laughter before she dug her spoon into the container and began to devour the contents. She only made it a few bites before she froze, her eyes wide as she looked across the room to her husband. For a moment, panic flared in Oliver’s chest, suddenly fearful that she was going into labor, here and now in the middle of their discussion, before they’d settled on the parameters for her birthing process. 

“Oh my gosh _ that’s it_.” 

“What’s it?” Oliver asked quickly as his heart hammered, his body tensed and ready to spring to her aid. 

“Mint chip! Don’t you see? It’s the _ perfect _‘go word’!!” Felicity hooted delightedly, staring joyously at the container before her. Oliver, however, was less convinced.

“Don’t you think that will get confusing? What with you craving mint chip ice cream all the time and whatnot? What if you say ‘Mint Chip’ and I hand you ice cream instead of calling the midwife or taking you to the emergency room?” 

The baleful look she shot him indicated that no, she did not think (or care) that it was confusing. 

“If I say ‘Mint Chip’ and I sound hungry or happy, I think it’s a safe bet I’m just craving ice cream. If I say ‘Mint Chip’ and I sound like I’m about to pass a watermelon, then maybe I’m in labor?” Felicity elaborated moodily and Oliver just shook his head. _ Pregnancy hormones_. Her mind was made up. Mint chip was now the phrase to say to indicate that Mia was making her way into the world. But Felicity wasn’t about to stop there.

“On another note, I think we need to discuss middle names for Mia. We keep putting it off but I think it’s time we settled on one and... I have some ideas,” Felicity grinned over the carton of ice cream up at him. She somehow managed to look devious and adorable all at once. It was a gift. 

“I’m all ears.” 

“Well after giving it some thought, I want a name that starts with the letter ‘C’.” 

Oliver paused as he prepared a salad to accompany the stuffed peppers, shooting her a puzzled look.

“A ‘C’? Why ‘C’?” Not that he had a problem with the idea. It was just... Of the people in their lives, he couldn’t see the connection to necessitate that particular letter. His middle name was a ‘J’ name, Felicity’s an ‘M’. So where was the connection? Surely not anywhere in their friend or family groups. ‘D’? Sure - Donna and Diggle. ‘R’? Sure, for Roy. ‘T’ for Thea. He could have gone on but the point was, he didn’t get it. Sure, there was Cisco or Curtis, but were they really ‘name our child after you’ levels of close with either of them? Oliver didn’t think so. 

As it turned out, neither Cisco nor Curtis was at all connected with this newest development. No, this ‘middle name starting with C’ business was a brain child all of Felicity’s own making. 

“Because, if her middle name starts with ‘C’ then her initials will be ‘MCQ’. The same as ‘Mint Chip Queen’.” Felicity explained, rolling her eyes as if this were the most obvious thing in all the world, and not the deluded ramblings of a hormonal pregnant woman. Granted, a hormonal pregnant woman whom Oliver loved dearly, but deluded and hormonal nonetheless.

“You seriously want to name her after _ ice cream _?” 

“You want to name her in honor of _ your mother _ so I do not want to hear any judgment just because the meaningful thing I’m choosing to name her after isn’t a family member.” 

“It’s an inanimate object. It’s a _ food_. You want to name her for a food and you don’t see how that’s different than naming her after a family member?” 

“It’s not like I want to name her ‘Mia Ice Cream’!!” Felicity defended sulkily. “_T__hat _would be stupid. I just want a ‘C’ name. That’s not stupid at all. And, it wouldn’t even be on the table if you hadn’t already picked out an ‘M’ name, so really this is your fault as much as mine.” 

Somehow, Oliver felt that her logic was a little skewed on that one. But he wasn’t about to say as much. 

“But you still want to name her after an ice cream, even if it is indirectly!”

“I’m detecting judgment!” 

“Yes, yes you are. Because I think you’re crazy. But I love you anyway.” He teased, carrying a bowl of salad over to her and setting it on the side table while she continued to polish off her bowl of mint chip. As her pregnancy had advanced, Felicity’s hormones had definitely begun to go into overdrive and the results had been… interesting, to say the least.

The present conversation served as an excellent example of that. 

“We’re just choosing a ‘C’ name so that her initials are the same as ‘Mint Chip’. Which is actually pretty sweet, if you think about it. I mean, I’ve been craving mint chip ice cream this whole pregnancy. So really, it’s a cute story that we’ll all look back on fondly one day,” Felicity explained to him, waving her spoon before her as if this all made perfect sense and wasn’t at all insane. Oliver couldn’t bring himself to do more than nod faintly, suppressing a grin at his wife’s spiral into hormone driven insanity. 

“Think about it. There’s Coralie-”

"Mia Coralie Queen? ...Mmm. I’m not sold on it but it isn’t _ terrible_," he admitted reluctantly. 

“There’s Charlotte. Camille. Chloe. Cara.”

“We are not naming her after Supergirl.” Oliver interrupted suddenly, his expression serious. 

“She spells it with a ‘K’, it’s different.” 

“Nope. Absolutely not,” Oliver refused and Felicity chuckled.

“I knew that would get you. I was only kidding. I do think Charlotte is a contender though. But there’s always Colette. or Charli. Cadence. Calliope. Corinne.”

For the remainder of the evening as he finished cooking, he was bombarded by name suggestions starting with the letter ‘C’, in an ongoing quest to make Felicity’s dreams of their daughter having the alter ego of ‘Mint Chip Queen’ come true. 

And despite his initial reluctance to go along with the idea, Oliver couldn't help but warm to the sound of Mia Cordelia Queen or Mia Charlotte Queen. Hell, even Mia Colette Queen rolled nicely off the tongue.

Damn it. He was really going to go along with this harebrained idea, wasn’t he? He was. He totally was. What could he say? 

Oliver was a sucker for giving Felicity what she wanted. If she asked it of him, he was likely to do it. Even when the ‘ask’ was to name their daughter for a favorite ice cream flavor.

Mint Chip Queen. 

Maybe they’d wait to explain it to Mia until she was older.


End file.
